We are investigating the mortality experience of shipyard workers at a major coast shipyard, to ascertain whether their asbestos exposure will be associated with increased cancer mortality. A previous field survey of 1,000 current employees in the yard (Groton, Connecticut) showed a very high incidence of asbestosis in chest films, establishing that asbestos exposure had been common in the past. One thousand nine hundred and sixty men were employed in the yard on January 1, 1967 for at least ten years. By December 31, 1979, 340 were known to be deceased (17%) and 1,500 (76%) were known to be alive. Of these 830 (42%) were still employed in the shipyard. One hundred and twenty remained to be traced (6%). We expect to trace well over 95% of the cohort and will then analyze the mortality experience of the group, comparing expected deaths, based upon National Center for Health Statistics data for Connecticut and for the U.S. as a whole, with the differential experience of the various trades in the cohort (pipefitters, boilermakers, painters, carpenters, guards, foundry workers, electricians, machinists, etc.). We are also exploring the mortality experience of two additional cohorts in the same way; a ship repair yard in Baltimore, Maryland, and a new surface ship construction yard in Quincy, Massachusetts (the Connecticut yard constructs and repairs submarines). In each of the latter two, more than 2,000 workers comprise the cohorts. It will be of interest to compare the mortality experience with that of other asbestos-exposed workers (insulators, factory workers, miners and millers), with special reference to total mortality, lung cancer, pleural mesothelioma, peritoneal mexothelioma, gastrointestinal cancer, oropharyngeal and laryngeal cancer renal cancer and asbestosis. The statistical analysis will utilize both the death certificate enumeration and that following ascertainment, in comparing expected deaths with those observed.